Cannery at H.S. to be Continued

Santa Paula Chronicle
Wednesday, September 13, 1944

Below is an interesting article from the Santa Paula Chronicle discussing a public cannery below the football bleachers. This was towards the end of World War II, and I suspect that the cannery was associated with war shortages.

A number of items, including carrots, are to be canned at the Santa Paula high school community cannery this Thursday, Sept. 14th, Gordon Woods, in charge of the cannery, has reported. Next week, and all subsequent weeks, canning will be done on Fridays, unless a football game is scheduled for the same day, making the plant, which is under the bleachers on the athletic field, inaccessible.

This Thursday's canning is scheduled for 1 p.m., Woods announced. Any Santa Paulan who has had the necessary pre-instruction in canning may avail himself of the opportunity by getting in touch with the high school.

A considerable amount of food was preserved by the canning method during the summer, Woods said, though not quite as many people as had been expected made use of the community cannery.

Use of the plant is free to all members of the community upon the completion of a four-hour pre-instruction course dealing with methods of canning, health department regulations and rules for avoiding food-poisoning. The only fee is the small service change of 7 cents for each can, which includes the price of the can itself, which is provided by the cannery.

Saints Win Track Meet in Ventura

Santa Paula Chronicle
Saturday, April 5, 1930

This article from the early 1930's covers a victory by Santa Paula High School's track team in which they beat Ventura by a good margin. One particularly interesting part of the article is that our team is referred to as the "Saints". Apparently, during this period the school's athletic teams were called "Red and White", "Saints" or "Cardinals" depending on who was writing the article. By the end of the decade, the name "Cardinals" (which was used by the student newspaper) had been agreed on, and we have been the Santa Paula High School Cardinals to this day.

Local Track Squad Takes Nine Firsts, Ventura Three, To Defeat Ventura Pirates in Dual Meet.

Times are slow for most events

Santa Paula high school's victorious Saints added another scalp to their growing string today by defeating Ventura in the first meet on the Ventura Junior College field by a score of 83 to 53.

The local team took nine firsts, leaving Ventura but a few of the field events in which to boost their total, and even one of these was unexpectedly taken by a local man - Llack of the locals winning the shot with a heave of 40 feet five inches.

Kenneth (Cutie) Brown, and Philip Powell were the stars of the meet again, and as usual, Brown and Haydock conducted their duel in several events, Brown winning in the majority but losing in the broad jump when Haydock, on his last trial leaped 21 feet 1 inch.

The relay squad of the local school which placed third in the A.A.U. races at Long Beach, and since that time have cleaned up all opposition, had absolutely no competition whatsoever today as Ventura did not enter a team. The locals ran an exhibition race, practicing passing the baton in preparation for the county league meet in Oxnard next Saturday.

New Crackdown Hits S.P.U.H.S.D

The Cardinal Newspaper
Friday, September 30, 1977

In the 1970s there were a variety of problems with Santa Paula High School students hanging out on lawns and walls around campus, and non-students wandering the campus. Articles discussing this appeared in both the Santa Paula Chronicle and the school newspaper, the CARDINAL. Below is an article from the CARDINAL on the topic:

The SPUHS Administration has begun a crackdown on loitering and unauthorized visiting by non-students on campus.

According to SPHS Principal Mr. D.E. McMahan, the program was begun as a result of a resent state law that makes it a misdemeanor for persons to loiter on high school grounds, and because of the increasing problems that the high school has had to deal with caused by loitering, and unauthorized visiting by non-students.

Under the new program persons caught loitering on campus will be first verbally warned, and then they will be issued a written warning. In addition to the written warning, a notice will be sent to people guilty of a second offense. People guilty of a second offense will run the risk of being arrested by the police.

At the Carpinteria game on Friday, one person was arrested for loitering. Thus far this semester, seven written notices have been sent out.

In addition to soliciting the help of the Police, the Administration has sought the assistance of 75 residents around the high school.

The Administration has asked these people to authorize the police to keep students from loitering around their homes.

Mr. McMahan has stated that with the new program the campus has become "much more orderly."

High School Notes: September 25, 1919

Santa Paula Chronicle
Thursday, September 25, 1919

High School Notes

The following is a series of short news items from September 1919. One interesting bit talks about "Indoor Baseball". This conjures visions of shattered windows and general mayhem, but it turns out that this wasn't the case.

Around the turn of the 20th century, baseball was often played inside a gymnasium during the winter months. It was similar to the regular "outdoor" baseball except the diamond was smaller and the ball was larger, 10 to 20 inches in diameter, and softer than a standard baseball. Over time, indoor baseball moved back outside and eventually evolved into the game of softball we know today.


Miss Hazel Hall, a former teacher of the Santa Paula High School spent Thursday afternoon of last week visiting the various classes of the school. Her stay in Santa Paula was very short, having to return immediately to Visalia, where she is to teach this year.

The student body wishes her all success in her new field of work

* * *

The Senior Class was a guest of the Junior Class at a very delightful party given on Saturday night of this week at Sulpher Mountain Springs. A wiener and marshmallow roast added to the pleasure of the party, and was followed by games, swimming and dancing.

* * *
On Tuesday morning of last week Arthur Martin, an alumnus of Santa Paula High School gave to the Student Body a very interesting talk on the necessity of planning and carrying out a course of study to be followed throughout the school course and to be used later as an aid to life work. The advise given was chiefly to the Freshmen, but nevertheless, was appreciated by the rest of the classes

Author has been attending Occidental College during the past year and is well informed about the advice given to us.

* * *
The first of a series of indoor baseball games to be played between teams chosen from the girls of the different classes took place Friday afternoon during the regular gymnasium period between the Freshmen and the Sophomores. The fact that the two teams were well matched added to the excitement of the game. The three innings ended with the score of 8 to 9 in favor of the Freshmen.

* * *
On Friday morning the Student Body was entertained by members of the Freshmen class, the Misses Helen and Florence Lotta, who favored us with two vocal solos. Their singing was greatly enjoyed and the Student body hopes to be fortunate enough to hear them again during the school term.

* * *
Any person of Santa Paula or community wishing to take up evening study, please report name and subject desired to the Principal of the High School or the Librarian.

If there is sufficient demand for a subject, arrangements will be made for such a class at the High School.

* * *

The High School played a practice baseball game with Oxnard last Saturday. Ralph Bennett, the Santa Paula pitcher played a good game, but due to several errors made by other members of the team and to the good playing of the Oxnard nine, the game passed in favor of Oxnard, leaving a score of 8 to 10.

Dorothy and Philetus Hall, Editors